The Broncos enter Sunday’s 2 p.m. game against Eastern Michigan on a six-game winning streak and they sit atop the Mid-American Conference West Division standings and in a good position to lock up a top four seed in the conference tournament and possibly a top two spot to secure a bye to the semifinals.

“We’re very confident,” Brown said after Friday’s practice. “When you’re winning games you’re going to be confident in yourself. We don’t want it to stop at six. We want to get that seventh, eighth, ninth, 10th game in a row and we’re looking for bigger things.”

WMU (17-8, 10-3) has rid itself of some unfavorable trends this season. The Broncos won at Kent State for the first time in 25 years, they defeated Akron for the first time 2008 and most recently they won at Ohio on Wednesday for the first time since 2000.

But, looking at the box scores from recent games, one can’t help but wonder how Western Michigan is winning. The Broncos have committed more than a comfortable number of turnovers, which led to a number of buckets for opponents off those mishaps and they have gotten very little offensive production from their reserves in some games.

Steve Hawkins

Head coach Steve Hawkins offered some insight as to what he thinks has been the key in recent weeks.

“When we play good basketball we know we’re capable of playing very well against good teams,” Hawkins said. “Here as of late we’ve done a better job of putting together 40 minutes and that part is probably more important than the inconsistency that we had in the middle of the season.”

Austin Richie laughed in acknowledgement of the wonderment surrounding WMU’s ability to grind out wins. The junior point guard said the team has quite simply just found ways to win.

“It’s about who we are, man,” Richie said with a chuckle. “We kind of joke about it. In games where we turn it over a little bit, well alright you still have to come down and face our defense. That really is who we are. You look at box scores and we’re holding teams under 40 percent shooting. We outrebound them and we’re getting to the line. It’s stuff like that.”

The Broncos have the fifth-best scoring offense in league play at 69.5 points per game, however they are the best field goal shooting team at 48.2 percent. WMU has an equally middle of the pack scoring defense, as its 66.5 points per game given up ranks sixth, yet the Broncos have the third-best field goal percentage defense in the MAC at 40.7 percent.

Western Michigan has the second-best rebounding margin in MAC play, out-boarding opponents by a plus-3.6 margin.

Those statistics will be important Sunday against EMU, but maybe the biggest category to keep an eye on against the Eagles is the turnover number.

Hawkins said in terms of execution that was his team’s worst performance of the season.

“There’s no question,” he said. “We just didn’t even show up and a lot of that had to do with Eastern Michigan. They played at a very high level and we played at a very low level. If you do that in this league, it doesn’t matter who you’re playing, they’re going to hurt you.”

EMU (15-11, 7-6, third in MAC West) averages the second-most steals in the MAC at 8.8 per game and the Eagles have the best turnover margin at plus-3.62.

Simple things like passing and catching basketballs were a problem for the Broncos in the first bout with EMU this season.

Brown, who led WMU with 18 points in the loss to the Eagles, said the Broncos enter the rematch as a different team.

“We’re a different team than when we played them the first time,” he said. “I think a lot of guys grew up from those mistakes. I feel like everybody is ready to play.”

Senior center Shayne Whittington sat out Friday’s practice with a high fever. Hawkins said he hopes his 6-foot-11 big man will be ready for Sunday’s game after plenty of rest and fluids.

Brown has stated on more than one occasion this season he is looking for Western Michigan to buck a bigger
trend and compliment a MAC West Division title with a conference
tournament championship.

WMU has won the MAC Tournament once, in Hawkins first season in 2004. The Broncos have won four division titles since then.

Brown said the hopes are high and the vibe is good on the team right now.

"Winning six in a row does some things to you," he said. "It helps your team. We’ve come closer together. We want to keep riding this wave of wins and hopefully pull one out Sunday."